From WO 2007/121861 A1 a generic balancing shaft for a multi-cylinder engine having at least one unbalance portion and at least one bearing point is known, wherein the at least one unbalance portion is assigned to a bearing point. The bearing point per se has a radial running surface which extends only partially over a circumference of the bearing point, wherein a centrifugal force resulting upon rotation of the balancing shaft is located within a region of the bearing point that is formed through the running surface that is partially extending over the circumference of the bearing point. This is to create a balancing shaft which provides a reduction of the overall weight and the moved masses while maintaining the desired unbalance compensation in the case of multi-cylinder engines.
From WO 2008/151723 A1 a further generic balancing shaft is known, wherein the partially formed running surface is assigned a running ring segment which follows the partially formed running surface of the bearing point and forms a completely closed running surface with the latter. In addition, at least one lateral edge bounding the width of the running ring segment is provided, which spans the partially formed running surface and is of a self-supporting design. This, too, is to achieve a reduction of the total weight while maintaining the unbalance compensation.
Further balancing shafts are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 7,444,976,B2, from EP 1 775 484 B1 and from EP 2 017 486 B1.
Disadvantageous with the known balancing shafts in particular is their elaborate and thus expensive production.